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A lightning-sparked wildfire spread across two Northern California counties on Wednesday, prompting widespread evacuations and damaging a historic Gold Rush town once inhabited by thousands of Chinese immigrants.
Since Tuesday’s lightning storm ignited the fires, nearly two dozen blazes driven by the wind have burned over 13,000 acres of dry grass, brush, and forest, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The small town of Chinese Camp, with fewer than 100 residents nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California’s Gold Country, was especially impacted by one of the fires. A reporter on the scene described how the fire destroyed dozens of homes nearby, remnants of the mid-19th-century mining community established by Chinese laborers during the Gold Rush.
Multiple historic structures—including an old stagecoach stop—were gutted, and a hilltop cemetery was burned, though a church built in 1854 was spared, said CalFire spokesperson Jaime Williams. The town’s store, tavern, post office, and a pagoda-style public school also survived the flames.
Authorities ordered the evacuation of Chinese Camp and other nearby communities in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties. Over 600 firefighting personnel are working to contain the fires, though the full extent of property damage and evacuations remains unclear. No casualties have been reported so far.
Governor Gavin Newsom emphasized the efforts to combat the blaze, stating, “We are mobilizing all available resources — including federal support — to fight this complex lightning fire across Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.”
Two shelters have opened for displaced residents and their animals, with additional facilities for livestock and pets. Utility crews are working to repair power lines, transformers, and poles damaged by the fires.
This series of 22 fires, known as the TCU September Lightning Complex fires, is the largest among a dozen wildfire incidents across California reported by CalFire on that day. Despite their size, they are less destructive than the Los Angeles fires in January, which resulted in 31 deaths and nearly 16,000 homes destroyed.
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